Four Questions To Consider Before Deciding To Keep Your Marital Home

Four Questions To Consider Before Deciding To Keep Your Marital Home

Four Questions To Consider Before Deciding To Keep Your Marital Home

Financially speaking, divorce is all about dividing assets (and debt) ?and for many couples, their primary residence is the single largest asset they have to divide. In an April 2014 survey by Securian Financial Group, Inc., nearly two-thirds of respondents reported that their marital home was their most valuable asset as a couple at the time of divorce.

In addition to having the highest monetary value of any asset in many couples? financial portfolios, the marital residence carries significant symbolic and cultural weight. Home, we are told, is where the heart is? but when the heart is broken, what happens to the house?

There is an unspoken notion that getting the marital residence as part of a divorce settlement represents a sort of triumph, and that the spouse who moves out appears in some ways to have ?lost.? It?s no wonder many women report that ?who gets to keep the house?? is among the first questions raised by friends and acquaintances upon hearing news of an impending divorce.

Deciding how to handle the marital house in divorce is an excellent opportunity to Think Financially, Not Emotionally®. Acting on feelings about heart and home, rather than on thoughtful analysis of the value and cost of retaining the property as an asset, could lead to a decision you may come to regret.

Here are four key questions to ask when thinking financially about how to handle the marital residence in divorce:
Source: Forbes Finance